Ukrainian Refugees At Risk Of Homelessness
Councils need “urgent solutions” to deal with a rapid rise in the number of Ukrainian refugees who are now homeless, the Local Government Chronicle reports.
Over two months the number of Ukrainian refugees presenting to their local authority as homeless increased by over 40% to 4,295 households at the end of January. This is up from 2,985 at the end of November 2022. The Local Government Association (LGA) said it has been “raising concerns with government on the growing number of Ukrainians presenting as homeless to councils”, particularly the “significant rise” in those who arrived on the Homes for Ukraine scheme.
According to the most recent data from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities, 2,595 households on the Homes for Ukraine scheme have now become homeless. This is up from 1,720 in November 2022. Almost seven in 10 of the overall total households have dependent children (69%). Of those who came into the UK on the Family Scheme, 1,325 households have now become homeless. A further 80 households from the Ukraine Extension Scheme – which allows Ukrainian nationals whose permission to remain in the UK expired on or before 1 January 2022 to remain in the country – have become homeless. There are 295 Ukrainian refugee households whose means of entry into the UK is listed as unknown or other, who have now become homeless.
In December 2022, the government announced it would be providing councils with a one-off £150m funding pot to support Ukrainians at risk of homelessness. DLUHC also announced an increase in funding given to sponsors as ‘thank you payments’. Hosts will receive a £500 per month for guests who have been in the UK for more than a year. This announcement came after it was reported that some councils had begun topping up thank you payments to sponsors on the Homes for Ukraine scheme in order to prevent refugees from becoming homeless.
But the LGA has criticised a lack of clarity from government over the £150m homelessness fund: “We are pleased that the government has been working with the LGA and councils on funding to help reduce homelessness risks, but more detail is urgently needed on the £150m announced in December in light of these figures.” The association also expressed concern that there is currently “no funding beyond the first year for councils to help families and find permanent homes” and that the funding provided to councils “in 2023 has halved”. “If numbers continue to increase, we want to work with government to review funding,” an LGA spokesperson said.
They added that more work needs to be done into looking at “how best to support existing hosts and how to encourage new hosts to step forward” in order to allow families to move on quickly if arrangements come to an end. “Councils have been at the sharp end of the rise in the number of people presenting as homeless and need urgent solutions to pressing housing needs in the short and the long term across all the schemes that welcome new arrivals to the UK.”
Regionally, London has the largest number of Ukrainian refugees who have fallen into homelessness at 1145, just over a quarter of the total number of households owed prevention duty. This is followed by the south-east, which has 22% of the total number of Ukrainian refugee households who have fallen into homelessness (947). The north-east has the lowest number of Ukrainian refugee households who have fallen into homelessness, at almost 3% of the total (119). This is followed by the East Midlands which has seen 190 households present to their local authority as homeless, equating to 4% of the total.
A London Councils spokesperson said: “Boroughs in the capital are extremely concerned by the number of Ukrainian refugees becoming homeless.” They pointed out that “the capital’s chronic shortage of affordable housing” had made it “extremely hard to find suitable accommodation for everyone who needs it” and that “pressures remain immense”. “We will continue doing all we can to help Ukrainian refugees into suitable housing and will keep working with government on this important issue. This includes ensuring councils have the resources we need to deliver support on the ground to Ukrainians alongside other refugee and asylum arrivals and the wider community.”
LGC has approached DLUHC for comment.
